Red and Blue: A Different Beginning
by SCWLC
Summary: A slightly different start, a little bit of self-deception - they can go a long way together. Shameless fluff. Zutara AU/rewrite. Everything is supposed to sort of happen between the episodes.
1. Meetings

Title: Red and Blue: A Different Beginning  
Author: SCWLC  
Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own nuthin'.  
Rating: PG for now, I suspect it will go up later but . . . well . . .  
Summary: A slightly different start, a little bit of self-deception - they can go a long way together.  
Notes: Okay, so this is like the series rewrite from Crazy Zutara 'Shipper Land. I'm not even going to try to figure out all the whys. This is going to be like the ultimate, "Just go with it, okay?" sort of fic. I don't even know. I was in the middle of some abortive fic that I don't know what I'm doing with it, when this idea came to me in a flash of hoppy fur and ears. Roughly . . . what if Zuko wasn't in the South Pole when Aang woke up, and somehow managed to run into Katara a lot without ever realising she was the Avatar's friend, and without Katara ever knowing he was that firebender that was chasing them. Or something like that.

Just . . . don't expect rational thought on this one.

* * *

The First Meeting

For the first time, Zuko had real rumours to follow about the Avatar. For three years, all he'd had was legends and stories passed from parent to child over the past hundred years. His ship had landed on Kyoshi for reprovisioning, and the next thing he knew, he was hearing a hundred rumours about the Avatar being somewhere on the island.

He followed the rumours and found himself in the village where the Avatar Kyoshi's temple was. Zuko was wandering through the market, having disguised himself as Earth Kingdom so as to be able to sneak up on the Avatar, should the man truly be there. Unfortunately, he was distracted from his search by a flash of blue. Amidst the greens and browns of the people, the girl in blue stood out like a jewel in mud.

She _was_ a jewel. A girl from the Water Tribes, to judge by her exotic dark skin and wavy brown hair, was shopping in the market, and Zuko found himself drawn to her. Somehow he wound up standing next to her. So close, in fact, that when she turned, the basket on her arm bumped into him, sending her packages flying.

"I'm sorry," they said in unison.

Zuko hastily joined her in gathering up her purchases. "No, it was my fault," he said. "I was standing too close."

"I should have been watching where I was going," she told him, blushing prettily.

He knew he should get back to hunting the Avatar, but it had been a very long time since he'd last been around anyone his own age, let alone a pretty girl, and Zuko just couldn't bring himself to let the moment end quite yet. In his panicked attempt to think of something to say, he blurted out, "You're just really pretty."

She whipped around, blue eyes wide, and said, "What?"

"I . . . Forget I said anything," Zuko said, feeling extremely mortified. What was he doing? She was some Water Tribe peasant, not even worth the time of the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation.

Then she said, "I . . . I'm . . . pretty?" She smiled at him, and he forgot all about his hideous embarrassment. "Thank you. No one's ever said that before, except my Dad," she told him self-deprecatingly. "I'm Katara."

Another moment of panic. He couldn't tell her who he really was . . . "Lee," he said, grasping the first name that came to mind. "My name is Lee." He suddenly realised he was still holding the last of her packages and handed it to her. Suddenly he realised a topic he could use to extend the conversation a little. "So, what are you doing here, on Kyoshi?"

"I-"

"Katara!" came a voice from somewhere in the crowd.

She looked disappointed, and Zuko felt vaguely cheered by that. "Oh! I have to go. Sorry, and thank you!" she said as she whipped off. Before he could give chase, he spotted one of his soldiers, also dressed in Earth clothing, waving to him. Apparently the man had found something interesting.

* * *

The Second Meeting

Katara was greatly relieved by their success at freeing the earthbenders kept captive by the Fire Nation. She'd felt truly awful when Haru had been arrested because of her, and so it made her feel good that they'd set that wrong to rights. Better still, they'd freed the whole prison, so she was in great spirits as she went shopping.

She was wandering through the market, when she was startled by a familiar face. It was that boy who'd said she was pretty on Kyoshi. He'd seemed completely tongue-tied, but he was fairly handsome, even with that scar on his face, and he'd looked very disappointed when she'd had to leave with Sokka. It was a split second decision, since he hadn't seen her, but handsome boys who thought she was pretty were pretty thin on the ground back home, and things weren't much better, now that she was travelling with Aang. "Lee!"

He didn't respond, but Katara assumed he hadn't heard her, and hurried up to him, tapping him on the shoulder, repeating his name. He turned, looking a little annoyed, saying, "I don't know who – Katara!" he responded. The annoyance seemed to fade from his face, and he asked, "What are you doing here?"

She smiled. "Shopping. We're just stopping on our way," she explained.

"Same here," he told her. "I'm just passing through on – with my uncle." He'd seemed about to say something else, then thought better of it. "I'm glad to see you again," he told her. "I . . . uh . . ." He looked adorably confused.

Being a risk-taker, Katara suggested, "I don't have to find my brother for a while yet. Would you like to have some tea?" She pointed at the tea shop across the street. "It'll be nice to talk to someone who's not obsessed with furry animals."

He grinned at her, and made an incredibly elaborate and elegant bow, and said, "Oh, after you, m'lady."

Katara found herself blushing. For just a moment, she felt like a princess, and it was a really nice feeling. Soon they were settled in the tea shop, talking about this and that. She told him all about her Gran and her dad, and he talked about his uncle. She sensed there was a story behind why he didn't want to talk about his parents, but she wasn't talking about her mother, so fair was fair.

The conversation ranged from scrolls they'd read, it turned out they had both read as many of the Tales of Ming Tsu as they could get their hands on, and he was particularly jealous of the antique scroll of her gran's that she'd read. So they chatted about the stories of adventure, who their favourite characters were and agreed that Ming Tsu and Lao Tien should have gotten on with things and gotten married in the third scroll instead of waffling about their feelings.

They also agreed the pair shouldn't have visited the seer, it was completely obvious the visions were fakes, and had a delightful time debating the quality of the fight scenes. It was as he gestured expansively, illustrating some point about the minutiae of a swordfight that she saw a familiar flash of blue at his wrist. Before she even though, Katara had grabbed his hand, bringing it toward her. "What?" he asked, looking quite bewildered.

"My necklace!" she exclaimed. "This is my necklace! Where did you get it?"

He blinked for a moment, then said, "I found it. On the . . . on the Fire Nation prison ship. The one the earthbenders escaped from." He looked a little angry as he said it.

"Oh," Katara said. "I . . . I just noticed I'd lost it after we left, and-"

"You were on that ship?" he demanded. "What were you doing there?"

"I . . . the soldiers mistook me for an earthbender be-"

She didn't have a chance to finish her sentence as he was on his feet, next to her chair and started checking her over, clearly looking for injuries. "Are you okay?" he demanded.

"I'm fine," she told him soothingly. "We all managed to get away fine."

He shook his head angrily. "It's one thing to take potential combatants and put them somewhere they won't cause trouble, but to take a girl . . ." he trailed off, looking extremely irate.

"It's wrong no matter what," she snapped. "None of them were doing anything to the Fire Nation, they just took them away from their families because they _might_ do something. It's cruel and horrible."

He flushed and looked away, looking ashamed. "I'm sorry," he muttered.

"I'm sorry too," she said. "I know what you meant and I shouldn't have snapped."

They both smiled tentatively and talked a while longer, but the moment had been lost, and they both had places to be anyhow. "I have to go find my uncle," he told her after insisting on paying for both their tea and snacks. "Maybe . . . maybe I'll see you around?" he said, hopefully.

Katara smiled, feeling just as hopeful. "Well, it wasn't all that likely we'd run into each other here, so maybe we will." Feeling very bold, she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek before saying goodbye.

He turned bright red, but as she turned to leave, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her back into his arms. "Lee? What are-"

"Since I don't know if I'll ever get this chance again," he interrupted her. Before she could ask what that meant, he kissed her. On the lips. Like in a romance scroll or something. When they finally broke apart, he said, "Okay. Now I _really_ hope I'll see you again."

She was only able to stammer out an appropriate farewell and watched her handsome friend get lost in the crowd.

* * *

The Third Meeting

Zuko was running the encounters with the Avatar over and over in his head as he paced around the little town they'd chugged to after all the damage Zhao's blockade had given him. He was again dressed in Earth clothes, having decided after the first meeting with Katara that he liked the relative anonymity the clothes gave him, rather than creating a trail of rumours about Fire Nation for Zhao to follow.

It meant he was able to wander the town aimlessly as he tried to figure out who the third member of the Avatar's little party was. Whoever they were, they were also Water Tribe, like the boy, but they'd been kept just out of his sightline the whole time, only brief flashes of blue letting him note there was someone there at all. For a moment, he considered Katara. Everywhere the Avatar had been, there she was.

No. That was ridiculous, he told himself. It was just coincidence.

Just as it was coincidence that, when he looked up, there she was in the market. "Katara!" He eagerly raced up to her. She was different from the girls he'd known before he was banished. She was fun and funny and actually seemed interested in what he had to say. She turned and smiled when she saw who it was.

"Lee!" Somehow they wound up hugging and Zuko decided he quite liked it as a greeting for her. "What are you doing here? Your uncle's business brought you here?"

It was a good excuse. "Yeah," he told her. "Our ship took some damage so we're here for repairs and reprovisioning."

"We just wound up having to take a detour," she told him. Then she smiled and said, "You know, I've been out all morning. Maybe we should go for some lunch?"

They ambled comfortably around until they found somewhere to eat. They shared tales of travel misadventures and ate off each other's plates. "Hey! Eat your own noodles," he said, lightly slapping at her hand with his chopsticks.

"But yours look so much tastier," she complained, parrying with her own chopsticks and making a run at his noodles again. Soon they were giggling like children as they sparred over the table with the utensils. He took his revenge for the theft of his noodles by taking part of her egg pie, she took some of his chicken pig, he stole some of her mango – it was a lot of fun.

When they'd finished they walked the market, holding hands and looking at the wares. Eventually she looked at the sun's position and said regretfully, "Oh. I didn't notice how late it was. I have to go."

He felt a little downcast. It had been a wonderful afternoon. He hadn't even thought about the Avatar once. "Oh. So . . . until next time then?" he asked her, hopefully. They'd run into each other often enough now that it was worth hoping for.

"You can count on it. In fact," she told him with a grin, "I think I owe you something from the last time we met."

"What's that?"

She kissed him.

Zuko happily let his eyes slide closed and wrapped his arms around her waist. This was perfection. They broke apart, breathing hard, and she said, "Until next time."

He happily wandered back to the ship and flopped down onto his bed, not thinking about the Avatar, but what he was going to do the next time he ran into Katara.

* * *

The Fourth Meeting

Katara was grousing, down by the water, irritated with herself for being so incompetent, irritated with Aang for being so talented, irritated with Sokka for being right about the scroll, irritated with the pirates for dropping this temptation in her path and just plain irritated with everything in the whole world.

"Stupid . . . water . . . work with me," she groused at it as she tried, again, to make a water whip.

A familiar voice spoke up behind her. "I thought I'd find you here."

She shrieked in surprise before whipping around. "Lee? What are you doing sneaking up on me like that?" Then she frowned. "And how did you know I was here?"

He was leaning against a tree looking annoyingly handsome. "Uncle dragged me shopping, and I heard one of the vendors say something about a water tribe girl stealing a scroll. I had a hunch it was you." He pushed away from the tree and ambled towards her. "You're a waterbender?"

She sighed and just plopped onto the ground, feeling exhausted. "Not a very good one. There weren't any other benders at home to teach me. So that's why we're going north. To learn waterbending."

Lee had joined her on the riverbank, picking up the scroll and looking over the movements on it. "So you stole the scroll, hoping to be able to learn something?"

"Yes," she told him. "I feel terrible, even if it _was_ from pirates, but I just . . . I want to learn so badly."

He wrapped an arm around her shoulders and squeezed briefly. "Can I make a suggestion?" he said. "Not that I know anything about waterbending, of course."

"What?" she asked, a little sourly.

Lee pulled away from her, and Katara instantly regretted her attitude. She'd liked his arm on her shoulders, and she'd liked leaning into his nice, warm body. "I was thinking you should work on the movements until you know them. So that when you actually try bending, you don't have to think about that, and how you're moving, but just the bending."

"I . . ." she trailed off, thoughtfully. "That makes sense. Thanks Lee!" She bounded to her feet. "Just let me see if I can get this one move. Okay?"

He heaved a deep sigh. "Okay. I came here to spend time with you, though. Not to sit here alone, lonely, bereft . . ." he trailed off, looking at her hopefully.

For the first time that day, Katara felt no longer annoyed. "Just a bit of practice. I promise," she told him. Then she sternly told herself that she could practice when he wasn't there, but she couldn't spend time with him if she was practicing.

Lee helped her anyhow. He sat there, the scroll open on his knees, letting her know if she needed to shift her stance a little or lift an arm higher or lower. It seemed like no time at all before she instinctively reached out, collecting the water from the river and sending it out in a perfect thin stream to snap a branch off a tree. She let go of her control and squealed happily, throwing herself into his arms. "Thank you!"

"You're very welcome," he told her. "Actually, that was more fun than I thought it would be."

She pulled back and looked him in the eye, asking, "What do you mean?"

A jokingly over the top lascivious smile followed. "I got to watch you _bend_," he told her, wagging his eyebrows.

Katara rolled her eyes and smacked him lightly on the chest in reproof. "Boys," she snorted.

"And after all my help, you wound me," he joked.

Then they sat down and watched the moonlight on the riverface, chatting about things. The long day caught up with Katara however, and she found herself drifting. Half-aware, she resettled herself against her comfortable, warm, nicely contoured pillow. She woke up just before sunrise to the feel of Lee kissing her.

Katara blinked and realised she'd fallen asleep practically draped over Lee. He had just sat there, letting her sleep on him all night. She bolted up, blushing in her embarrassment. "I'm so sorry," she squeaked.

He stretched, and told her, "It's fine." He gave her that same stupid, overdone, goofy smirk from before and said, "Now I can tell people you slept with me."

Rolling her eyes, Katara said, "Do you think about anything else?"

"What? You're really pretty and I like you," he protested.

That made her blush again, this time with pleasure at the compliment. "Thanks, Lee. I've got to get back to the others." Then she scrambled off. It was only when she was back with Aang and Sokka that she realised she hadn't made any plans to meet up with him again later.

* * *

The Fifth Meeting

The storm had been terrible, and Zuko was in pieces trying to repress the shakes that were working their way out from somewhere behind his breastbone. They landed the ship and he hastily disembarked, just grabbing the bag of his Earth clothes and getting off the ship before he humiliated himself in front of the men and his uncle.

He changed, shoving his regular clothes into the bag and searching for somewhere to get away. That was when Fortune shone down on him. As he hurried down the forest path in search of certain privacy, he slammed into a small figure in blue, sending them both to the ground. "Watch-" he started to snap. "Katara?" he gasped.

"Lee," she said. Somehow she looked like he felt. "Oh, Lee!" she cried and threw herself at him. Instinctively Zuko wrapped his arms around her, breathing in the now-familiar scent of her hair. She was sobbing into his chest, telling him about some boy named Jet who'd tried to kill a village full of Fire Nation citizens just because they were there, and nearly losing her brother to the storm.

"Shh. It's okay," he murmured into her hair. Still, he felt his own shakes and sobs coming out, and slowly he went from being the comforter, to the comforted. "I . . . the helmsman . . . he nearly died because I was so _stupid_. Why didn't I listen to Uncle?"

"But he didn't die, and everyone's okay, right?" she murmured, petting him gently. From anyone else, Zuko would have yanked the hand away in annoyance at the implicit condescension. But this was Katara. He just burrowed into her more.

"I just . . . I was so scared, Katara." She soothed away the last of his shakes and finally he was able to sit up properly. "We're a pair, aren't we?"

She smiled back at him. "I'm starting to think this is Fate," she said. "We keep running into each other."

"I think we need to at least try to make plans to meet next time," Zuko told her. "I'm really tired of leaving and thinking _this_ is the last time." Suddenly, sitting next to her wasn't enough, and Zuko reach out, grabbing her around the waist and pulling her against him and onto his lap as he settled his back against a tree trunk. She wriggled in his grasp, making him tighten his arms to keep her from leaving, but she just resettled herself more comfortably, putting her head in just the right spot on his chest for him to rest his chin on her head.

"Well," she said, "Do you know where you're going next? I'll see if our routes are anywhere close to the same."

"We're heading north," Zuko told her. "Like you."

Like the Avatar.

He shook that thought away. She wasn't with the Avatar, because that would make her an enemy. And she wasn't his enemy, so she couldn't be with the Avatar. It was that simple.

Eventually they settled on a meeting place and happily curled up together. Zuko talked about his uncle's stupid missing Pai Sho tile and the stupid shopping trip he'd had to go on where his uncle had walked away with a pile of junk and no tile. Katara told him about her brother's meat obsession. "It's like I'm travelling with one person who eats only meat and another who eats only vegetables. I have to do all the cooking and it's driving me nuts," she complained.

"Maybe you should make one really big bowl of stew and tell them they should just pick through it themselves."

She giggled. "That makes more sense than not. But I think my brother would complain that I was trying to cheat him out of his share of food."

They talked a while longer, but this time it was Zuko who had to regretfully say, "It's getting late, and I need to get back to the ship. Uncle will worry."

"I should probably go too," she said, and stood, stretching. Zuko watched her avidly out of the corner of his eye as he did so as well. Suddenly he noticed something.

"Are you watching me stretch?" he asked, a little teasingly.

Katara blushed. "I . . . so what if I am? You're watching me stretch," she said defensively.

"Watch all you want," Zuko said, and tried to lean seductively against the tree and stretch at the same time. It didn't work and he fell over. That made her burst into giggles. When he glared at her, she tried to suppress them, but failed.

"I'm sorry," she said. "You just . . . and then you fell." Her hand was over her mouth, and Zuko felt a little less annoyed, just because she was at least trying not to laugh.

"Hmph," he grumbled. Nonetheless, he couldn't stay mad at her. She just looked so pretty and appealing. "I demand recompense for the humiliation," he told her, smirking a little.

"Meaning what?" she asked.

"Meaning this," Zuko told her and did like they did in the romance scrolls, pulling her dramatically against him, kissing her hard and trying to lean her over backwards, which was a lot harder than it sounded.

She squirmed away from him and Zuko could feel himself pouting. "It sounds better in the scrolls."

"You are just too cute," she said, and kissed him again. This time, without his attempts at romance, it was a lot better.

They said goodbye, and Zuko went back to his ship in far better spirits, changing into his regular clothes and planning out how to hide a calendar counting the hours until he saw her again, from his uncle's keen eyes.

* * *

The Sixth Meeting

Katara was still sick, but she'd promised Lee she'd meet him in town, and she didn't want to let him think she'd stood him up, and she also didn't want to deal with what Aang and Sokka would do if they found out she had a sort-of boyfriend.

So she crawled out of bed while Aang was out and Sokka was dozing, left them a note saying she wanted some space from stupid boys and slowly made her way to the inn she was supposed to meet Lee at. It took her a very long time to get there, and she was pretty sure she was late. When she got in, she spotted him sitting at a table, looking impatient, and staggered over, flopping into a chair and dropping her head to the table with a thud.

"You're late," he said, ungraciously. When she peeled her head back up off the table to fix him with what passed for a glare in her current condition, his eyes widened. "You look awful. Are you okay?" he asked. He placed a hand over hers, then tightened it. "Your hand is ice cold."

"I'm sick, okay?" she groused. Letting her head fall back into her arms, she told him, "My brother got sick, then I caught it, then our friend insisted that we had to suck on these hibernating frogs to get better, and I didn't want you to think I'd stood you up, okay?" To her horror, she felt tears welling up.

Lee squeezed her hand comfortingly for a moment, then said, suddenly. "Just a sec, I'll be right back, I promise." His nice warm hand vanished, and Katara couldn't even bring herself to pick her head up to see what he was doing. A moment later, however, he was back. "Hang on," was the only warning she had before he'd slipped one arm under her knees and the other behind her back, picking her up easily.

"Wha-?" Her head came up and she looked around as she suddenly felt weightless, carried in very strong arms. "Where are you taking me?"

"I'm renting a room for the afternoon, and you're going to stay in bed," he told her. "I've ordered some chicken lizard soup for you."

Katara sniffled a little, and it wasn't all due to her illness, either. He was just so nice. "Thank you," she told him, and wrapped her arms around his neck and pressing a kiss to his shoulder, which was the only part of him she could kiss right then.

He carried her into a nice little private room, and put her on the bed. Then he insisted on taking her shoes off for her, and tucked her in. "Better?" he asked. "I don't get sick a lot, but I remember my mother doing this when I was little."

"Much better," she told him. Appa was soft and warm, but he smelled like the bison he was. Sokka snored and Aang tried to help, but he was terrible at being restful. The only thing that might make it better was, "Lee?"

"Yeah?" he said, from where he'd poked his head out the door to collect the soup from the innkeeper.

"Would you . . . nevermind," she said as he handed her the soup. "Thanks."

"Um . . . okay," he said, perching next to her on the bed. "You're welcome."

Having his extremely warm body so close and yet so far was maddening, so Katara sipped at her soup a few times, then wriggled over to Lee and curled up against him anyhow. It was awkward, but he was so nice and warm.

"Katara?"

"Hmm?" She took another sip.

"Aren't you uncomfortable?" he asked.

"You're all warm," Katara told him, and briefly burrowed her cold nose into his shoulder to warm it up. He gave a put-upon sigh, and took her soup away for a moment, then rearranged them both so that he was sitting behind her, leaning against the pillows, while she was curled up against his chest with his arms around her and the covers over them both.

"Better?" he asked, handing her back the soup.

"I think I love you," she told him jokingly, then froze. They were in a relationship, really. It was kind of off and on, and they never knew when they'd meet up next, but . . . and it was too soon to say it, and what if he took it wrong and . . . "I . . . uh . . . I mean, that's really nice," Katara stuttered out.

"Thanks," he said hoarsely. Somehow, she knew it wasn't just for the compliment.

Trying to ease the awkwardness a little, Katara sat up and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "I'd kiss you properly, but I don't want to get you sick with this," she told him.

That afternoon they didn't talk, she just dozed in Lee's arms, warm, comfortable and safe. He didn't ask anything of her, just held her and occasionally pressed his lips to the crown of her head.

All good things come to an end, and Lee gently prodded her awake. "Sorry, Katara," he told her. "But I have to go, and I bet you do too."

Yawning, she noted that the sun was indeed, getting low. "You're right." She sat up regretfully. "Some date this was."

He quirked a small grin at her. "I dunno. It wasn't so bad. You slept with me again, after all."

Katara rolled her eyes, but she felt a million times better than she had that morning, thanks to Lee, so she didn't say anything to that. "We'll be heading up close to the Northwestern peninsula," she told him. "Will you be anywhere near there?"

He frowned, and said, "I think, maybe." He named a town there. "You want to try to meet there in two weeks?"

Katara half closed her eyes, recalling the map in her head. "I think I can manage that."

He smiled. "Good."

"Hopefully I'll be better soon so I can give you a proper thank-you for this," Katara gestured around the room.

"It was nothing," he protested.

"Renting me a room at an inn for a day just so I can have a bed to rest in isn't nothing," she told him tartly. "And I won't let you downplay that this must have cost you a lot of gold to be done so fast."

He looked flummoxed at that, and Katara briefly wondered how much money he actually had available. He and his uncle were travelling an awful lot with their ship, which clearly had a crew. Maybe they were wealthy merchants. It would explain a lot.

They said goodbye and Katara trudged back, and told her brother and Aang that her rapid recovery could be attributed to not being around stupid boys all day. Which was kind of true.

* * *

The Seventh Meeting

Zuko was in a bad mood about a dozen times over. Everything had been going wrong lately. He was a dozen steps behind the Avatar, some crazy bounty hunter had run all over their ship, not to mention he hadn't even been able to use her services to track the Avatar because he didn't have anything belonging to the kid or his two Water Tribe friends. He also still had no idea who the second Water Tribe peasant was, if it even was a Water Tribe peasant or just someone who liked blue a lot.

Thinking of blue didn't help, because he hadn't seen Katara in what felt like forever, and his uncle had found the poetry he'd written about her and teased him about it mercilessly. Moments like that, he could see the family resemblance between his uncle and Azula. The man knew exactly where his weak points were and went for them like an arrow loosed by a Yu Yan archer. Not that it was in any sort of bad intent, but still, it was aggravating.

To top it all off, he'd been cut while his servants shaved his head – the sign of his shame was bad enough, the fact that he now had a big slice there was just honey glaze on pastry – then he'd managed to walk into a flame fist he should have known was there while training, and he was now sporting a burn on the palm of the hand he'd had to block with.

Now he was pacing around the small town they'd agreed to meet in, trying not to be annoyed, since she wasn't late yet, but still annoyed because he wanted to see her _now_.

Finally she appeared, and something inside him relaxed when he saw her smiling face emerge from the people wandering around the village square doing whatever peasants did when they milled in village squares. Within moments, however, she was frowning, and by the time she got there, his attempts to hug her were ignored by her pulling his head down to look at the bandaged spot on his head. "What happened?" she demanded.

"Nothing," Zuko groused. "I've been missing you for weeks and all you can do is bug me about the stupid cut?"

"That's . . . I . . . oh Lee," she kissed his cheek and squeezed him far too briefly. "Come on. Let's find somewhere private. I have something to show you I think you'll like."

Nothing loathe to be alone with her, Zuko let her pull him after her, ignoring the pain her hand on his still-healing burn sparked. She noticed the bandages however, and said, "Why didn't you _say_ something?" as she led him into a small copse with a stream running past it.

"It's just a little burn," he said defensively.

She sat him down beside the stream and said, "I found out something I could do the other day, so just . . . stay still and let me help."

Sighing, Zuko slumped down, then stared in surprise as she dipped a hand into the stream, and brought it out surrounded by glowing stream water. "What are you doing?" he asked, a little warily, as she took his bandaged hand in her own.

"Healing you," she replied absently. Before he could reply to that incredible statement, she'd pressed the glowing hand to his burn. It felt pleasantly cool, then a little tingly, then all the sense of sensitivity and the slight dull pain that had remained in his hand just went away.

He stared, then flexed his hand carefully. "Amazing," he said.

"Shush and let me do your head," she told him.

"Stop being bossy," Zuko complained, even as he let her yank his head around and run her glowing hand all over the cut.

She ignored him, turning his head this way and that as she made sure to reach every part of the cut. "There. Better." She tossed the last of her healing water back into the stream and smiled proudly at him.

"That is amazing," Zuko said, sincerely. He'd never even heard of anyone able to do such miraculous healing outside of tales of magic like the ones told to children. He reached into his pocket and felt the poem he'd brought for her. It was a different one from the one his uncle had found, mainly because his uncle had made some very salient points about his choices and the degree of romance in some of the things he had compared Katara to.

Still, now that he was there, and she'd gifted him with this incredible healing, the poem suddenly felt completely inadequate. "What's in your pocket?" she asked.

"I . . . um . . . nothing," Zuko said hastily. "It's . . . nothing."

"Oh," she said, looking a little disappointed.

Zuko thought of his first poem.

_You burn so brightly_

_Your spirit – like an oil fire on the water_

_All four elements embodied by you_

_Eyes like water, skin like earth, movement like air, spirit of fire_

His uncle had rightly pointed out that most girls wouldn't be too impressed by being compared to an oil slick. Even one that was on fire. Especially one that was on fire. Being told her skin was earthy might not go over well either. Not to mention that she was Water Tribe. She might take offense to being told she had a spirit of fire.

As they sat talking, he couldn't keep himself from fingering the parchment. He had to think of something to give her. Something equal to her healing his cut and the burn on his hand. Something that wouldn't make him seem like an idiot who couldn't string three words together.

When they kissed goodbye, Zuko put everything he had into the kiss, and promised himself that at their next meeting, he'd have a gift worthy of her. Something practical but beautiful, romantic and very . . . Katara. He'd have to think very hard about it.

He panicked when he got to the ship, because the parchment he'd finally stopped fingering was no longer in his pocket. He calmed himself because there was no reason she should have found it. It could have fallen out anywhere.

Zuko still had a sinking feeling she'd read it.

* * *

The Eighth Meeting

Katara was waiting for Lee at the latest village they'd agreed to meet in after they'd discovered their paths were mostly the same. She'd considered, briefly, that he might have something to do with this Prince Zuko she'd heard from Sokka and Aang was following them. Lee couldn't be Zuko, however, since Sokka had told her that Zuko was ugly with a scar on his face, always dressed in armour, arrogant and just plain mean.

Well, Lee had a scar on his face, but he was very handsome, very sweet, seemed almost embarrassed a lot of the time, and dressed in Earth clothes. He couldn't be Zuko. He was just a merchant on a particular trade path.

Meanwhile, she was very eager to see him. The two poems he'd left behind at the copse for her after he'd left were so sweet. They were awkward, true. But they were very romantic, and very . . . Lee. She liked them both, but the first one, with all the weird comparisons was more like him. Very earnest and she could almost see him frowning in concentration as he tried to come up with flattering things to say. The second was more normal, and she suspected he'd had help with it. That was actually the problem. It didn't sound so much like him.

_Eyes like the bluest ocean depths_

_Cheeks blooming like pink roses_

_A spirit like the eye of the storm_

_Powerful but calm at the centre_

Finally, finally, _finally_ he showed up. It was the last time they were going to be able to see each other, quite possibly, and Katara was eager to make the most of it, and find out if there was any way to get back in contact with him once they returned from the Northern Tribe.

He started to greet her, but by then he was within arm's reach. "Hi Katar- Mmmph!"

She kissed him. When she pulled away, she said, "Thank you for the poems! They're so sweet!"

"Oh, I . . . poems!" He looked a little sick. "Did . . . you . . . oh no."

"Didn't you mean for me to read them?"

"Not the one with the . . . with the oil slick," he moaned, looking humiliated.

Katara sighed. "I liked that one. It's like you."

"What, idiotic and fumbling about girls?" he pouted. It was adorable.

"No. Sweet and sincere." She nodded decisively. "Also, my brother's worse than you at that kind of thing, so I'm used to figuring out what things are supposed to mean, not what they actually say."

He sighed. "You got there that day and you healed me. After that I didn't want to give you the poems, I wanted to give you something better."

Katara shot him an exasperated look. He was a great boyfriend, but the way he seemed to think his poems were inadequate was a little annoying. "Lee, they're wonderful. You're saying such wonderful things about me and – did you get me a present?" she said abruptly as he held out something in lovely tooled leather to her.

"Yes," he said. "I wanted a good present for you. Something useful."

"I like your poems," Katara told him stubbornly. She wasn't going to let him badmouth himself. Still . . . presents. She took it and unrolled the thing.

Lee said, anxiously, "It's a waterskin," as though he was worried she might not be able to tell. "It's a waterskin designed for a waterbending warrior," he explained. "I found it in a stall at the market, and that's what Uncle said it is. He always knows those kinds of things."

Katara was only half listening as she turned it over and over, seeing the way it was put together, how it was designed to fill particularly quickly, the way it could be cleaned so easily, the copper being used for sealing and the way it could either let a lot of water out at once, or a small stream. At the same time, it could hold a lot of water without getting into the way, and be handled one-handed if necessary. It was definitely a bender's waterskin.

"Thank you!" she squealed, and threw herself at him. "This is the best present anyone's ever given me!" There was only one good way to thank him, so she did it.

They didn't stop kissing until the sun had moved a great deal to the west in the sky. They also made tentative plans to leave letters for each other at a particular inn once Katara had left the Northern Water Tribe.

One last kiss and she left to rejoin her brother and Aang. She was determined, however, she wasn't going to lose Lee. She _would_ find him again. She had to give him as good a present as the waterskin, and she'd really miss kissing him.

* * *

The Ninth Meeting

Zuko crept into the Oasis, spotted the Avatar and the two with him. The one, a girl with white hair, asked the other if he or she needed help guarding the Avatar. Zuko didn't wait for a response or even a clear view. He just blasted the ice wall beside the other person, half-hidden from his view. They were immediately buried in ice, so Zuko grabbed the Avatar and took off before they could wake up.

Katara didn't even see anything coming. One moment she was guarding Aang, the next, an avalanche was landing on her head. Everything went black.

* * *

The Tenth Meeting

Katara dimly spotted the man the others insisted was Zuko. With all the blowing snow and his white clothing she couldn't see a thing clearly. Rather than wait for him to approach, she just hit him hard and fast, burying the firebender in snow. She didn't look at him for the whole trip back, absorbed as she was by checking that Aang hadn't been hurt. She dismounted Appa without a second glance as they hurried back to the Spirit Oasis.

Zuko just barely spotted the Avatar's animal and friends through the snow. Then one of them raised his arms, and Zuko was quickly knocked out by a few sharp hits with the ice and snow. He woke up much later, alone in the city and decided to cut his losses, leave, and try for the Avatar again later.

* * *

The Eleventh Meeting

Zuko had borrowed a soldier's armour on his way through the city, knowing he didn't look remotely like Water Tribe, and preferring to have the protection from attack over trusting his ability to camouflage himself.

He was racing along, when he saw something that made him stop dead. It was Katara, bending ice away from the site of a collapse building. When he concentrated, Zuko realised he could hear calls for help from under the rubble. Katara looked frantic, and between the fact that there were clearly children under there, and the fact that Katara needed help, Zuko's decision was made.

A moment later he was next to her. "Lee!" she cried, startled, when suddenly a gout of fire was bent to help clear the snow and ice away. "You're here? You're a firebender?"

He concentrated on helping. "I . . ." There wasn't anything he could say.

"Have you been with Zhao?" she demanded.

What could he say? That he was the prince chasing the Avatar? She'd call people down on him, and Zuko didn't want to face off with the bending friend of the Avatar's that he'd seen through the snow on the tundra. "Yes." It was true enough.

She trusted him so much she just filled in the blanks for him. "You're here because you have to be, aren't you?" she asked. "You're just . . . following orders, right?"

"Sometimes you have to do things you don't like," Zuko said, answering her obliquely to the point of not at all. Hoping she'd pick up the implication he wanted.

They worked in silence together for a bit, until they'd clear the worst away and the people were no longer in danger. "You're going to have to make a choice," she said to him suddenly. "You know what the Fire Nation is doing to people is wrong." She gestured at the damaged city. "This is hurting people, Lee. You're going to have to choose between the right thing and following orders."

"It's not that simple," he objected.

She sighed. "I don't want to argue about it now. Will you still be able to leave me a message about where you're going next when you get to the mainland?"

"You're not . . . you're not stopping . . . us?" Zuko could scarcely believe it.

Her hands cupped his face, and Zuko closed his eyes, feeling her thumbs gently stroking his cheeks, the one of them brushing against the scar that had defined his life for so long. "I don't know how hard it must be to try going against your own people, Lee," she said. "But I know you're a good person. Everything you've done has showed me you're a good person. I have to give you a chance to prove it."

She started backing away, and Zuko quickly leaned in to kiss her. When it was over, they rested their foreheads against each other. "I'll try," he promised. "I'll try, but I . . . you don't know . . ."

"Shh. Just go. There's no time. I'll find your letter and we'll go from there," she told him, pressing another kiss to the corner of his mouth. Then Katara pointed him in the direction of the docks and his uncle, and they parted. The whole way back to the mainland, Zuko considered what she'd said. He still hadn't reached a decision when he left her a letter telling her the next few stops he and his uncle would be making.


	2. After the Battle

Title: Red and Blue: A Different Beginning  
Author: SCWLC  
Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own nuthin'.  
Rating: PG for now, I suspect it will go up later but . . . well . . .  
Summary: A slightly different start, a little bit of self-deception - they can go a long way together.  
Notes: The self-deception continues into the utterly ridiculous. I warned you this was senseless.

* * *

After the Battle: The First Encounter

Katara was waiting eagerly for Lee, and almost missed him when he first stepped into her view. He looked terrible. Tired and gaunt, the ponytail she'd become used to seeing was chopped off and there was fuzz on his head, indicating he wasn't shaving most of his head any more. He was limping a little too, and Katara rushed to his side. "Lee! Are you okay? What happened?"

"Katara," he croaked. Then suddenly he was clinging to her as though she was a lifeline in a turbulent ocean. Maybe she was.

Stroking his head gently, Katara pulled him to a bench, making him sit down and ordering food and water. Finally he eased up, and she said, "Do you want to talk about it?"

He shook his head, paused, said, "I . . . yes . . . I don't know."

"Whatever you think you can tell me," she told him.

"Uncle and I, we've . . . we've been declared traitors," he said, in a broken whisper. "I can never go home."

"Oh, Lee," Katara wrapped her arms back around him, offering what comfort she could. "I'm so sorry." The food arrived, and she watched as Lee, who had previously always had enough gold to pay for everything and insist on it, hesitated.

"I . . . I can't pay," he told her. "I shouldn't-"

"You need to eat something," Katara told him briskly. He needed her help and she wasn't going to turn her back on him now. "I wasn't meeting with you at every stop because I wanted you to pay for my food. You look like you haven't eaten in days and I expect you to eat something. Then I'm going to look at your leg and see if I can heal it."

"You don't have to-"

"Yes I do," she interrupted sternly. Then she pointed at the plate. "Eat."

He ate, but Katara noticed him carefully wrapping portions of food and putting them aside. He noticed she'd caught him and flushed. "Uncle hasn't had anything much either," he admitted. "I'd hate to come back and not have brought him anything."

"I understand," Katara said. "But if you wanted, you and your uncle could join me and my friends while we travel."

Lee shook his head. "I couldn't," he told her. "Now that Uncle and I have been declared traitors the Fire Nation will be looking for us. I don't want to cause you trouble."

"We can handle ourselves. My friend is-"

"No."

"But-"

"No," he said firmly. "I don't care if you were travelling with the Avatar. I wouldn't want you to have that kind of trouble."

Katara couldn't stop herself from kissing his cheek. "Eat your dumplings," she told him. When he was finished they found a corner with some privacy and Katara fixed up the ankle he'd hurt since she last saw him. Before he left to return to his uncle, they kissed, expecting it might well be the last time. "If you change your mind," she told him, "We're going to Omashu."

"Goodbye," Lee said.

She watched him trudge off, worrying, but knowing there wasn't anything they could do. Maybe when the war was over she'd have a chance to find him.

* * *

After the Battle: The Second Encounter

Out of the corner of his bad eye, Zuko was aware that the Avatar and his two friends in blue were there, along with some earthbender. But it was his bad side, and while he had adapted well enough to catching motion, he couldn't really see clearly. Moreover, he had to focus on his sister. With the Avatar, he knew the boy and his friends wouldn't attack him while his back was turned like this.

Then Azula attacked, striking out at his uncle when the man was distracted by something. Zuko saw the man go down, striking at his sister in fury at the same time as the others. When the dust cleared, his uncle was lying on the ground, burned and barely breathing. He fell to his knees, suppressing the keening that was trying to escape his throat.

There was a roaring in his ears, and he clutched his uncle to him, only aware that the Avatar and his friends were the enemy, and the enemy was too close to his uncle. "Get away from us!" he shouted hoarsely. Exhausted and running on instinct, he desperately pushed them away, aware someone was saying something but not able to hear it for the blind need to hide and protect his family. "Leave!" he cried, an arc of fire leaving his hand and making them all jump back.

They left, and Zuko set to dragging his uncle to safety. A half an hour later, a flash of blue caught his attention and he snapped a fireball at it, sure it was one of the Avatar's friends. "Hey!" came a very familiar voice.

Zuko scrambled to his feet and found himself face to face with an exhausted-looking Katara, who shot him an angry look, shoved him out of the way, and plonked herself down to heal his uncle without paying any attention to Zuko. He just stared. He hadn't seen her since that day several weeks before when she'd told him they were going to Omashu. It hadn't been the longest stretch he'd ever gone without seeing her, but it felt like the longest. He hadn't expected to see her again, and here she was. Just when he needed her the most. "You're here," he said, blankly.

She shot him a sour look. "No thanks to you. I offer to help after that mess with the crazy girl and you try to fry me?"

"You were there?" Zuko asked. "I wasn't . . . I mean, I just . . ." He didn't even know what he meant. He was just grateful for the coincidence that put her at the same place as himself and the Avatar once again.

"You didn't notice?" she asked. "We had the crazy girl pinned and there was only one person between us."

This, at least, he could explain. "It's my bad side," he told her. "My peripheral vision on that side is awful. I can't really see anything."

Her face softened. "Oh. Well, I can't fix everything, and he'll be tender for a while, but he'll be okay."

"Thank you," Zuko found himself on the other side of the small room of the hovel he'd been hiding in, his arms tightly around her. "I'm sorry about what I did before. I just . . ."

She sighed. "It's okay. I've overreacted when my brother and friends were hurt, too." Then she yawned and sagged against him.

"Are you okay?" he asked, alarmed. She was leaning against him very heavily. "Did she hurt you? Do I need to get you help?"

"Mm-mm," she mumbled into his shoulder. "No sleep for days. Tired."

He shook her a little to keep her conscious enough to answer questions. "Do you need to get back soon?"

She yawned again. "No. Everyone's gonna be . . . sleeping."

With his uncle resting comfortably, Zuko picked her up and felt the moment she fell asleep by the way her whole body just became near-deadweight in his arms. He found a second cot and curled up with her on it, just lying there and watching her sleep the day away. Eventually he fell asleep, holding her against him just to feel the rise and fall of her chest.

When he woke, she was gone. But scratched into the floor was a note.

_Sorry I had to leave. I'll see you again soon._

_Love, Katara_

* * *

After the Battle: The Third Meeting

Katara was craning her neck as she looked at the masses crowded into the cavern waiting to get onto the ferry to Ba Sing Se. While the others were chatting amicably with the refugees they'd chosen to accompany, Katara was anxiously looking around, hoping (and knowing it was completely irrational) that she'd spot Lee there.

Amazingly, as she craned her neck about, she spotted a familiar head of grey hair. "Uncle," she murmured.

"What did you say?" came Suki's voice from behind her at the same time the warrior poked Katara sharply.

Katara was pretty sure she jumped three feet in the air. "Suki! Don't sneak up on people like that."

"If you were paying any attention at all, you'd've noticed I was coming up behind you and asking you what you were doing, instead of needing me to poke you to get our attention," the other girl said reprovingly. "So what's going on?"

"I just . . . saw someone I recognised," Katara told her, now looking for Lee in the crowd.

"Family?" Suki asked.

Katara paused and frowned at her. "No. Why would you say that?"

"Because I could have sworn you said, 'Uncle'," the other replied.

The waterbender winced a little. "I said that out loud?"

Suki nodded. "So if it's not an uncle of yours, why did you say that?"

Katara suddenly spotted Lee coming up to his uncle and broke into a wide grin. "Because I saw Lee's uncle. Excuse me," she told Suki, and rushed off. "Lee!" she exclaimed as she came up to him. Then she flung herself into his arms, kissing him.

"Katara," he murmured into her ear when they finally pulled apart to breathe. "What are you doing here?"

She sighed, recalling all over again that Appa was missing. "My friend lost his-"

Lee's uncle made an odd noise – sort of a strangled choking sound. Lee instantly turned, forgetting about Katara. "Uncle? Are you alright?"

The man coughed, cleared his throat and said, "I am fine, nephew. I am most . . . interested . . . by your . . . acquaintance."

Lee frowned at him. "You made a lot of comments about the poems I wrote for her. You even helped me write them."

The uncle looked rather stunned. "This young lady is the one for whom you wrote those poems?" he asked. He seemed to be choosing his words with great care.

"You know," Suki said, from where she'd come up behind Katara, "You look awfully familiar," she told Lee. "Have you ever been to Kyoshi?"

Lee looked a little pale, and Katara knew that he'd probably been there on some manoeuvre for the Fire Nation. But since he was a refugee now, banished from his homeland, letting that on to Suki would do no one any good. So she told the lie she'd believed from him before, embellished a little to explain his current state. "That's where we met," she said. "At the marketplace in Kyoshi. Lee's uncle was a merchant until his ship was destroyed in a battle with the Fire Nation."

Suki had turned to face her while she was speaking, so Lee mouthed, "Thank you," behind the other girl's back.

"Sugar Queen!" Toph's voice carried over the din.

"Oh," Katara said in disappointment. "I'll see you soon, Lee!"

She hurried off, hearing Lee's uncle sputtering, "What do you mean, what do I mean? Do you not know who she is friends with?"

Katara shook her head. She didn't want to know. It wasn't like Lee wouldn't have known she was with the Avatar. As she caught up to the others, she heard Suki muttering, "Where have I seen him before?"

* * *

After the Battle: The Fourth Meeting

If there was one thing Zuko had figured out since they'd begun the dreadful work of serving hot leaf juice to the unappreciative and stupid, it was that his uncle was clearly crazy.

"Zuko!" he'd exclaimed as he'd watched Katara get lost in the crowd. "Is it truly wise to become involved with the young lady?"

"What do you mean, Uncle?" Zuko had asked, little knowing that his uncle must have recently found some bush to turn into a hallucinogenic tea.

His uncle had sputtered. "What do you mean, what do I mean?" he demanded. "Do you not know who she is friends with?"

Zuko turned and frowned at his uncle. "Should I? How do you know her, anyhow?"

His uncle's jaw had sagged open. "I met her at the North Pole. She is one of the Avatar's friends, and was there in the Oasis with him when Zhao killed the Moon Spirit."

Sighing, Zuko told him, "So she was there. That doesn't mean she's the Avatar's friend. How could she be? Both the Avatar and his Water Tribe friend know what I look like. If she were friends with the Avatar, he would have told her who I am, and she would have nothing to do with me."

"Unless she is covering for you," his uncle said in reproof.

"So then I have an ally within the Avatar's party. Which I don't," Zuko added repressively. "Honestly Uncle. She's just a nice waterbender who's gotten sidetracked. She said one of her friends had lost something, so obviously they're on their way to Ba Sing Se to get a replacement for something too rare or expensive to find outside the city. It has nothing to do with the Avatar, and I don't want to hear anything more about it!"

It had taken a great deal of effort, and the Blue Spirit had made several appearances before Zuko finally tracked Katara down to the Upper Ring. He cautiously scouted the house they'd been graciously given by the city's authorities and wondered how they'd gotten it. Then he found Katara's window and slipped inside.

She nearly shrieked when she saw him, and Zuko lunged across the space, clapping a hand over her mouth, and ripping his mask off with the other. "Katara! It's me," he whispered harshly.

"Lee?" she gasped. He nodded. "What is wrong with you?" she hissed at him. "You nearly scared me to death!"

Zuko backed away. "Uncle and I are stuck in the Lower Ring," he explained. "Without the right papers we can't even get into the Middle Ring. But I wanted to see you, so I had to sneak up here." He deliberately sat on her bed as he spoke and looked up at her through his eyelashes. He hadn't done that since he was very small, but it had always worked on his mother, and he was willing to try anything to keep her from being mad at him.

He saw her waver for a moment, then her resolve to be mad at him crumbled. "I missed you," she admitted, and sat on the bed, then curled up onto his lap, fitting against him as perfectly as she always did. "I was worried. You're both okay?"

"Uncle's got us working in a tea shop," he said wryly. "I think he's been dreaming of doing that his whole life. It's a little disturbing how much he loves tea."

They were interrupted. "Well, well, well," said a voice from the door. "What do we have here?"

"Oh, no," Katara moaned. "Toph, please don't tell anyone."

"Tell anyone what?" the blind girl asked. "Is there something wrong with your _boyfriend_?"

Katara glared for a moment. "You know perfectly well that Sokka would start frothing at the mouth and would never stop if he found out I had a boyfriend."

"So no one knows except me?" the girl seemed to delight in this information in a frighteningly wicked way.

"What do I have to do to keep you from telling the others?" Katara asked with a sigh.

"I don't know . . ." the girl said in patently false contemplation. "Why, as a Bei Fong, I have _everything_ I could possibly ever want, and all by waving this one little seal around," she said, waving said seal.

Well, that answered the question of how they got the house.

"I promise to only bug you about baths once a week," Katara haggled.

The other girl grinned. "I'll take that, and one favour to be specified at a future date," she said.

"I'm going to regret this," Katara told her, "But done."

"Pleasure doing business with you," the Bei Fong girl declared. "Don't do anything with him that I wouldn't do." She casually sauntered out the door.

"What wouldn't you do?" Katara muttered as she turned back to Zuko.

"If she's that bad," Zuko told her, "Maybe you should tell your friends about me."

Katara shook her head. "It's not that I'm embarrassed or anything," she insisted.

"It's okay-"

She spoke over the reassurance. "I really do lo – like you, and I _want_ to tell them, but my brother's kind of . . . stupid overprotective, and he'd probably try to do something bad to you. It just . . . it wouldn't end well," she explained. "Once I'm not travelling with him any more, maybe, but right now . . ." she trailed off, looking at him hopefully. "You're not mad, are you?"

"No!" Zuko hastened to tell her. "It's fine. Look," he said, shaking everything off. "I came up here to see you, not argue or worry about anything. Can we just-"

"Yes!" she agreed, then he found himself with a wriggling armful of girl and decided this was far better than talking.

They made plans to meet regularly before he left, and Zuko just barely avoided the patrols as he slipped in and around the back to the apartment he now shared with his uncle. The man was awake when he returned, and gave him a resigned look. "I cannot convince you she is with the Avatar, can I?"

Defensively, Zuko said, "How do you even know I was-"

His uncle silently pointed at his nephew's neck, which was when Zuko discovered the hickey Katara had left on him.

* * *

After the Battle: Meetings

Katara knew she should feel guilty for running off to see Lee so much when she should have been helping Aang hunt for Appa, but this was the first time she'd been able to just go and see him every day without making special plans or having to worry about making excuses to the others. All she had to do was say she was going off to look more for Appa, and she was free to leave.

It took very little time to find the tea shop where Lee was working, and in no time she became a regular. In any event, the Lower Ring may have been a slum, but it was a lot less annoying to be down there than it was to be stuck in the Upper Ring with snooty girls who thought it was fun to make other people feel bad.

Toph joined her a few times, and it turned out that she and Lee's uncle had run into each other once before, so the two chatted comfortably about whatever it was Toph wanted to talk about with him. Katara didn't know because she was usually busy helping Lee with serving. Mostly because it allowed her to follow him around and into the back where they could spend time kissing until Toph or Uncle Mushi would remind them that there were paying customers waiting.

Still, she always made sure to look both before and after she left for any trace or rumour about Appa.

Oddly enough, during that time, her thoughts had turned to the elusive Prince Zuko. She still had never gotten a good look at the guy, and she'd heard Sokka and Aang wondering more than once where he was. She was a little curious herself, if only to find out what he looked like. She was chatting with Mushi, while waiting for Lee to finish up so they could go on a proper date, when the topic came up. "It's just that I heard so much from them both about Prince Zuko," she complained to the man. He coughed. "Are you okay?"

"Just . . ." he cleared his throat. "Just fine. Something went down the wrong way."

"Okay," she said, pouring him a glass of water nonetheless. "Anyhow, they kept saying that Zuko was ugly with a scar on his face, so I wondered if Lee might be Zuko, you know?" she giggled, sharing the joke with him. "But that's ridiculous. I mean, Lee's hardly ugly, and just because someone has a scar on his face, doesn't mean he's the prince, right? Anyhow, it's obvious that I'm travelling with the Avatar, and if he _were_ Zuko, he'd've tried something by now, you know?" Lee came out of the kitchen then, looking irritably down at his chest, which had somehow gotten soaked, causing the material to cling to the muscles Katara knew were down there. She bit her lip and murmured, "Definitely not ugly."

Mushi coughed again, and Katara whipped around. "I'm fine," he told her waving off her concerns. "It's simply an old man not wishing to be too invasive in the romance of you youngsters."

"Oh," she said, and blushed. "Sorry."

She hurried over to Lee, kissed him hello, and they left. Katara looked back briefly, to see Mushi's leaning on the table, tears of laughter streaming down his face. Lee rolled his eyes and pulled her off. "Ignore Uncle," he told her. "Sometimes I think he lives somewhere in his head the rest of us can't go."

"Your uncle's a very nice man," Katara objected. "I like him a lot."

"I'm glad you do, and he likes you too," Lee told her. "He said something about you being a good influence." Then he stopped and pulled her into a kiss in the middle of the street. Practice had made him better at silly, romance-scroll-inspired gestures, and it was really wonderfully nice. "Now can we stop talking about Uncle?" he asked plaintively.

"Of course," she said with a smile. It was fair. She wouldn't want to talk about her father on a date, either.

They found a nice little noodle shop and sat and talked for hours. Katara had found a whole pile of scrolls of the Tales of Ming Tsu, and had split them between her and Lee. They'd both just finished the last of them and settled in for a nice long chat about their favourite series. It was a wonderful evening and Katara left, promising Lee she'd meet him again the next evening.

When they found themselves fleeing the city on Appa after having to leave poor Jet dying in those caverns under Lake Laogai, the one thing Katara most regretted was that she'd had to stand Lee up for their date. She just hoped she could get him to forgive her.

* * *

After the Battle: Meeting Again

Zuko was, to put it frankly, in a terrible mood. Katara hadn't shown up for their date, and when he'd gone by the house, she and everyone else had been gone. He was angry with her for not telling him she was leaving, he was worried that something had happened to make her leave and he was very concerned she had decided she didn't want him any more.

She showed up, days later, looking penitent, and tried to kiss him before even saying hello. He was so angry that she'd stood him up and then had the gall to not be hurt in the slightest, that Zuko just backed away. "Hello, Katara."

"I'm so, so, so, so, sorry," she said. "There was this thing, and the Dai Li tried to capture me and my friends and we had to run, and I'm so sorry-"

He'd seen the Dai Li in action since he arrived in Ba Sing Se. He'd seen the formidably trained earthbenders taking away those they deemed criminals, and their methods weren't gentle. He interrupted her, dragging her into the back and starting to check her over. "Did they hurt you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she told him. "I'm sorry I had to skip out without telling you. If I could have, I'd've been here. I promise."

"After you came to see me when you should have been in bed, resting," Zuko said, "I'll be the judge of whether you're hurt or not." He carefully ran his hands up and down her limbs, listening and watching for telltale movements or noises that would indicate pain. He just didn't trust her not to lie to keep him from worrying.

Katara sighed, and just let him do it. "Oh!" said his uncle, "I am most sorry for interrupting, but I would remind you, Lee, that we have customers waiting."

They both froze, and Zuko realised how intimately his hands were placed, and how close his face was to Katara's. "You have customers," she said softly to him.

"Sorry," he said, backing away. He stopped when she grabbed his wrist.

Katara's eyes looked a very deep blue as she said, "I didn't want you to stop. It's just that . . . there are . . . people. Waiting."

"Right," he heard himself say. But her mouth looked so very tempting, and he was so relieved she was okay, and she hadn't wanted to miss their date . . .

He wasn't quite clear on how they started kissing that time, only that the adrenaline rush of all the anxiety he'd gone through meant that there was a sense that something had been . . . scaled up since the last time they'd done this, and they both wanted more. It was an act of will to pull away. "I have to . . . I have to work," he reminded both of them.

"I'll see you at closing," she told him.

That whole day, he felt like he was floating, and his uncle spent a lot of time poking him to keep him from daydreaming. Katara showed up on time for their date, and they went out. After dinner, they wound up in a small park, hidden amongst a clump of trees that gave them privacy, and Zuko found himself in territory he'd only ever fantasised about. Only the fear of getting caught in a public space kept them from passing the point of no return.

The next day a letter arrived from Katara, brought by a dragon hawk, telling him that she'd had to leave due to circumstances beyond her control, and she'd keep writing as long as he wanted her to.

One week after that, Azula found them, and Zuko gave in to the temptation his sister offered. He helped her finish her invasion of Ba Sing Se, he let her take his uncle away and he got on a ship to finally go home.

He told himself he'd make Katara understand when he was able to dress her in blue silks, build her a bending arena all for her personal use and give her all the perks of nobility she deserved.


	3. Letters and Madness

Title: Red and Blue: A Different Beginning  
Author: SCWLC  
Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own nuthin'.  
Rating: PG for now, I suspect it will go up later but . . . well . . .  
Summary: A slightly different start, a little bit of self-deception - they can go a long way together.  
Notes: It got kind of weird here, but I was originally posting basically two to four pages a day of this, each meeting/exchange/whatever being a post, except for the whole thing at the Northern Water Tribe. So I sort of jump the shark at the end for an abrupt ending, but . . . well, this is fluff for the sake of fluffiness and 'shippyness. I claim no artistic merit exists here.

* * *

The First Exchange

The dragon hawk she'd gotten ahold of to write to Lee caught up to Katara as she stood in the stern of the Fire Nation ship her father and his men had stolen. She was taking a brief stroll to stretch out the kinks before going back to sit with Aang. The creature landed, offering its burden of a letter to her, and Katara hastily took it inside and out of sight, sneaking into the pantry for some jerky to feed it and keep it quiet in her room.

Sitting next to Aang, she opened the letter.

_Dear Katara,_

_I know you'll be disappointed in me, but my sister came and promised me the chance to go home if I helped her during the invasion of Ba Sing Se. I_

Several words, sentences and even a paragraph were crossed out before the writing continued.

_You don't know what it's like being an exile. I know you miss your home, but you chose to leave and will be welcomed back at any time. I haven't been home in three years and I miss it. I miss everything, even the way my sister makes fun of everything I do._

_I can almost see how disappointed you are in me, but I did it, at least a little, for you. My family is wealthy. Once I have access to the family coffers again I can buy you everything you deserve – everything I want for you. I don't know what I would have done these past few months without you and I just hope that you'll understand._

_If you don't I _

Many more things were crossed out, and there were some suspicious smears that might have been tears on the page.

_I love you,_

_Lee_

Katara read the letter at least a dozen times before it worked through her mind. Then she was scrambling for a brush, ink and paper.

_Dear Lee,_

_I can't believe you! If you think I care even a little bit about your family's money, you're a huge idiot. I care about you. I have to tell you that, from everything you've told me about your sister, something smells fishy. I'm a waterbender, and I know fishy. This is it._

_What did your uncle say? I can't believe that he didn't say anything when you went off and joined in with the invasion force. What were you thinking anyhow! I thought you were happy in Ba Sing Se. If you needed a place to stay or hide, you could have asked me. My friends and I would have brought you with us._

She paused for a long time, looking at her letter, then sighed. The first flush of her temper started to wear off, and Katara found herself able to look at the other side of things.

_On the other hand, I can understand that you wanted to go home. I remember how hurt you were when you first heard you'd been declared a traitor, and I can't imagine what it would be like to be told I wasn't _allowed_ to ever see Gran-gran or the South Pole again. Nothing's quite like home, is it?_

_Lee, I just wish I could make you understand that it's not the money that I liked you for. Yes, it was nice that you could rent a room for me at a moment's notice just because I was sick. What made it special was that you thought of it, that you kept me warm and got me chicken lizard soup._

_You're so special without all the extra frills, Lee. If you ever change your mind, if you and your uncle decide to rejoin us on the right side of the war, I'll be waiting._

_Love, _

_Katara_

* * *

The Second Exchange

Zuko stared at the letter in his hand. Katara was right. He was an idiot. He'd handed his uncle over to be jailed because he'd wanted to impress her with his wealth and power, and because he wanted to go home to a father and sister who thought he was beneath them. What was wrong with him?

Now she'd never trust him again, and he owed his uncle a world's worth of apologies. Also, he'd forgotten something very important when he'd leapt to join Azula to be able to go home.

"Orange is such an awful colour."

He wanted to slam his head repeatedly against the wall. "Then you can go inside and not have to look at the sky, Mai."

She shot him an irritated look. "There was a time when you weren't this dull and self-centred," she told him.

"There was a time I actually thought you were pretty," Zuko retorted. "Look," he said, sighing. "I don't know why you're here. I don't know if it's because Azula talked you into it, or if it's that you actually feel attracted to me, but I'm not interested, Mai. Please. Just stop flogging a dead ostrich horse."

She huffed and stormed off. He wasn't left alone, though.

"You seem to be doing that an awful lot, Zuzu," his sister's voice grated on his nerves.

"What do you _want_ Azula?" he asked.

"Nothing," she told him, looking smug. "But if people find out you've been to see Uncle-"

"That would be awfully hard," Zuko told her, cutting her off. "Since I haven't."

"So you're not going to try to explain yourself to him, Zuzu?" she asked, all pouty lips and jaw-clenching annoyance.

"No," he said. "What's the point? I've abandoned my honour and principles to help you abuse people who don't deserve it. He'll never forgive me, and I've earned that."

She hung around, taunting him, but Zuko found that the argument had clarified his plans. That night, he'd break his uncle out or die trying. So, just in case, he wrote a letter to Katara, and sent it off.

_Dear Katara,_

_First of all, by the time you get this, I might be dead. Just to warn you, so that if you don't get a response to any letters you send to yell at me, you'll know it's not because I'm ignoring you. I did some pretty awful things when I joined up with my sister, and one of them was letting her imprison Uncle._

_That's right, I let them take him. I'm going to break him out tonight, but I may not be able to get past all the guards and everything, so I'm just going to do my best. I'll let you know if I made it in a few days. That is, as soon as I can, I'll send you a letter to let you know._

_It's been horrible here. I miss Uncle, I miss the freedom I had on the road, I even miss serving tea. Mostly, I miss you. I miss you even more when my sister's friend tries to make me into her boyfriend. Every time I tell her I'm not interested she gets more annoying and more persistent. She's certainly not as pretty as you are._

_Anyhow, if I don't make it, Katara, I love you. There. I said it. _

_Hopefully, I'll see you sometime,_

_Lee_

He sent off the letter, changed into his Blue Spirit costume and set off to break his uncle out of prison. The plan went off without a hitch until he was in his uncle's cell, unconscious guards littering the halls, about to be discovered any second when the shift change went through, and his uncle refused to budge.

"Do you think you can just return to the palace and your father will let everything go?" his uncle lectured. "More to the point, do you think you can solve all your problems and gain my forgiveness by helping me to escape?"

"No," Zuko hissed. "Uncle, time is running out. Can we-"

"And what of your young lady?" Iroh asked, "Does she know-"

"Yes," Zuko finally snapped. "I sent her a letter telling her what I'd done and why, and she said I was an idiot and that she didn't want the luxuries I told her I'd give her."

His uncle stopped mid-rant and then dropped his head into his hands with a muffled giggle. "Make this one thing clear for me, Prince Zuko," he said. "Did you betray my trust and the city of Ba Sing Se because you wished to have access to more funds to impress a pretty girl?"

"When you put it that way it sounds bad," Zuko muttered, knowing perfectly well it sounded bad no matter what.

"She has convinced you to put this behind you?" Iroh asked, straightening. "To move on, and perhaps stop chasing after the affection of your father?"

"Yes!" Zuko snapped. "Can you finish asking me questions when we're out of here?" he demanded.

As they made their way from the prison, and back to a life of poverty and constant flight, his uncle said, "I must thank her for bringing you to your senses."

_Dear Lee,_

_YOU MIGHT BE DEAD! YOU'D BETTER NOT BE WHEN THIS ARRIVES OR I'LL HAVE TO KILL YOU MYSELF! AND YOU LET THEM SEND MUSHI TO PRISON! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?_

_YOU'RE GOING TO BE FINE AND YOU'RE COMING HERE BECAUSE APPARENTLY I HAVE TO KEEP AN EYE ON YOU, YOU IDIOT!_

_ARE WE CLEAR ON THIS?_

_Katara_

_PS I love you too, even if you are an idiot, so you'd better not be dead._

"You had best reply to your young lady," his uncle said from where he'd been reading over Zuko's shoulder. "I do not think she will take well to anything less than an immediate reply."

Zuko just stuck his tongue out at his uncle before sitting down to write a suitable apology.

* * *

The Third Exchange

Katara had taken to pacing anxiously in her free time, waiting for Lee's dragon hawk to arrive telling her that he wasn't dead so she could water whip him to death herself for making her as scared as she was. Sokka and Aang both thought she was worried about their father, the invasion, being lost in enemy territory and the million other things that preyed on her mind in the brief moments she wasn't worrying about Lee.

Toph knew why Katara was upset, and had managed, for the most part, to refrain from making Katara worry even more. She had, however, offered some very choice words to add to the next letter Katara sent to Lee, on the topic of letting his uncle go to prison. Since the girl had developed a very deep affection for the old man, Katara could hardly blame her, although it made her ears burn to be writing those phrases on Toph's behalf.

Finally, finally, finally, _finally_ the dragon hawk arrived with it's precious burden. Ignoring that she was supposed to be making dinner and a bunch of other things, Katara sprinted off with her letter and curled up in a nice little private bolthole up a tree to read.

_Dear Katara,_

_Uncle is fine and sends his regards._

_I am most appreciative of your efforts to convince my nephew that there are more important things than honour and the glory of the Fire Nation. _

_It will take us some time to get away from everything. We're having to duck patrols and things to avoid being caught, so I expect we'll be a while before we can catch up to you._

_Do not worry. I will ensure that my nephew does not manage to get himself into any more trouble than usual._

_Katara, I know that you said you don't care if I have money, but I don't know what I can give you if I don't. You're an amazing bender, I've never seen anything like how you healed Uncle that time in the Earth Kingdom. You're beautiful, kind, smart and so many things I'm not. I guess what I'm saying is, I know I was dumb for betraying Uncle while trying to impress you, but I didn't know what else to do to be worthy of you. Before I was declared a traitor, I could buy you pretty things, presents, anything you needed. Now all I can offer you is a third-rate firebender._

_We shall have to do something about his raging ego, Miss Katara. _

_Anyhow, Uncle and I will come find you and your friends as soon as we can. Just tell me where to go._

_I love you,_

_Lee_

_P.S. Ignore the crossed out bits, Uncle stole the letter before I could send it, and I didn't have time to cross them out properly._

Katara smiled happily and scribbled her reply quickly.

_Dear Lee,_

_You have much more to offer than just a third rate firebender. First, you are a good person, no matter how hard you try to pretend you're not. Second, you're interesting, nice, fun, handsome and I refuse to believe you're a third rate anything._

_Anyhow, I'm not that pretty and the healing isn't all that impressive. Yugoda at the Northern Water Tribe is a healing master. I can just do a few simple things. So, really, you don't have to worry about impressing me. I'm not all that impressive._

_We've just passed through the village of Jang Hui, and I expect we'll be on the main Island in the next few days. I'll give you a better idea of where once I know myself._

_Stay safe so I don't have to fix you up the next time I see you, okay?_

_I love you,_

_Katara_

Then, considering, she stuffed the sheet with Toph's succinct, yet foul, message for Zuko on the topic of betraying his uncle into the leather carrying case.

_P.S. Toph had a few things to say, so she asked me to write them down for her. I'm sending her letter along with this one._

* * *

The Fourth Exchange

Zuko read the note from Toph for the third time. Some of the things in that note he wasn't sure were anatomically possible, and most of them were four different kinds of vileness in both language and content. However, he had to admit that the crass note was quite effective as a threat.

He had to wonder, though, how the girl had picked up such language.

Writing a reply to Toph was easy. Adding in his uncle's reply was simple as well. He was in a dilemma on how to respond to Katara's letter, however. Most important, he had to disabuse her of the notion that she wasn't all that pretty. She was amazing and beautiful and he had to make sure she knew that.

The other problem was the one he wasn't sure how to approach. The part where she thought he was 'nice, interesting, fun and handsome,' had him baffled and worried about her sanity.

_Dear Katara,_

_First, and most important, you are not, "not that pretty." You are beautiful. Your skin is lovely and exotic, soft and just perfect. It makes your eyes an even deeper blue. Your eyes, you should know are as deep as the ocean and you make me want to drown myself in them every time I look at your eyes. I love the way your hair is wild and goes everywhere. It's gorgeous and it's just like you. Wild, untameable and beautiful._

_Second, I don't know this Yugoda. I know you, and your healing is amazing. You are amazing. Obviously I have to worry about impressing you._

_This brings me to one other thing. I love that you're so crazy you think I'm nice, but I'm not. I'm a horrible person. I betrayed Uncle and I betrayed your trust. You expected me to be a good and honourable person, and I was so busy chasing after my honour that I was completely dishonourable and I don't know why you even still talk to me. You'd be better off finding someone who wasn't a terrible person._

_I don't even know what's wrong with me, that I'm trying to convince you that you should find someone else, but I have to tell you the truth about that, even if it hurts me. I've done too many bad things already._

_The other thing I need to talk about with you is why you're in the Fire Nation at all. What are you doing here? You're Water Tribe! You could be hurt! You should get back to the Earth Kingdom as soon as you can. I could meet you at that town we met in when you were sick that time._

_Either way, it'll take me and Uncle a while to shake the people chasing us. _

_Please be careful._

_I love you,_

_Lee_

The letter he got a week and a few days later changed Zuko's mind about laying low and taking his time to find Katara.

_Lee,_

_I don't know how you can say you're a bad person. You've never met Hama. She's a waterbender from the Southern Tribe. Like me. She was taken by Fire Nation soldiers years and years ago. She escaped by learning to bend their blood. She used it to get away, then she used it on the people of this village._

_It was horrible. _

_I thought I'd found another teacher. Someone who could help me with my bending and who was from the Southern Tribe, too. But she was killing people, Lee. She was using her bending to kidnap them and lock them up in this horrible little cave, and they might have all died if my friends hadn't gotten lucky and found where she was keeping the villagers. She blamed the whole Fire Nation for the war, even children._

_She made me bloodbend, Lee. I had to. She was going to make my friends kill each other with her bending and I had to stop her. I feel awful. Now I know how to, will it make me crazy like her?_

_I wish we hadn't come here, but my friend needs a firebending teacher. Where are we going to find a teacher for him?_

_I miss you so much right now Lee. We're heading for the capital because there's an invasion planned for this upcoming eclipse of the sun. Hopefully we'll all be okay, but you should probably just keep out of sight. _

_I love you,_

_Katara_

"Uncle! We're heading back home! Let's go!"

"Sunset has just begun, Nephew. Perhaps we should wait until it is morning to travel?"

"Aarrgh!"

* * *

The Fifth Exchange

The invasion had been an unmitigated disaster. They had failed to hold the city, they had failed to defeat the Fire Lord, they had failed to even keep their troops from being captured. Now her father and his men were all locked away in a Fire Nation prison, Sokka was blaming himself for the bad plan, Aang was blaming himself for failing to defeat Ozai, Haru, Teo and the other kids were depressed because their families were all in trouble and it was bringing even Toph down as a result.

Katara hadn't had time to properly process it all, but once she had and had had a good cry over it, she felt better able to cope. Then she got Lee's response to her last letter.

_Dear Katara,_

_I'm on my way. _

_WHAT WERE YOU THINKING GETTING INVOLVED IN THAT CRAZY INVASION PLAN! THE ECLIPSE ONLY LASTED EIGHT MINUTES AND EVERYONE KNEW ABOUT IT! WHAT WERE YOU GOING TO DO WHEN THE EIGHT MINUTES WERE UP!_

_FORGET ME BEING AN IDIOT, CLEARLY YOU NEED SOMEONE THERE TO SIT ON YOU AND MAKE YOU HAVE COMMON SENSE! DON'T YOU DARE MOVE A MUSCLE FROM WHEREVER YOU ARE. WE ARE COMING TO GET YOU AND THEN I'M GOING TO MAKE SURE YOU NEVER GO ANYWHERE WITHOUT SOMEONE WITH MORE SENSE THAN YOU WITH YOU!_

_DON'T SCARE ME LIKE THAT, AND YOU'D BETTER BE OKAY WHEN YOU GET THIS OR I'LL HAVE TO DO SOMETHING YOU WON'T LIKE!_

_I love you,_

_Lee_

_Miss Katara,_

_Perhaps you should reply quickly to this as my nephew has become most unpleasant to live with in his worry for you._

_P.S. Ignore Uncle._

For a moment she bristled at Lee's tone, then she wryly admitted that he had every right to be worried, and decided to think it was sweet that he was that concerned for her. After all, he'd never seen her bend in a fight, just do a little practice, healing and rescuing people after the siege at the North Pole.

If firebending weren't such a naturally combative element, she might well have been concerned for Lee's safety on a more day-to-day basis. Still, missing him very badly, Katara finally just wrote what she'd been wanting write ever since they started travelling in the Fire Nation.

_Dear Lee,_

_We're all okay here, but, like you heard, the invasion was a failure. Most of the invading force was taken captive and the rest of us barely escaped. After the mess with the Fire Lord, it's pretty obvious now that we need a firebending teacher even more than ever._

_You and your uncle are the only firebenders I can trust right now, so I'm asking you to come to the Western Air Temple, where we'll be until further notice, to teach firebending._

_I'm not just asking because of how my much friend needs a teacher. I'm asking because I miss you. I'm scared and I'm tired of being the one the others lean on when they're scared. You're strong, Lee. I miss being able to just . . . not have to be strong with you. I miss you so much._

_Please come, Lee._

_I love you,_

_Katara_

Then she sent off the dragon-hawk, saving the fact she'd gotten Aang a firebending teacher as a surprise for her friends. It would be nice to be able to give them a pleasant surprise when Lee and Mushi caught up to them.

* * *

The Sixth Exchange

_Dear Katara, _

_We're at the foot of the mountain with the temple on it. I can tell because of all the ancient, shattered tanks on the floor down here. Where are you?_

_Lee_

_Dear Lee,_

_Just wait a few minutes. I'll be right down with everyone to meet you._

_Katara_

_P.S. Don't be nervous._

* * *

It Starts

"Why would she say I shouldn't be nervous?" Zuko asked, pacing and generally making a racket as he stomped on every loose stone and branch in his path.

His uncle looked at him for a moment, shook his head, and said, "I have already told you why, several times, Nephew. The fact that you refuse to believe me-"

"Uncle! Enough! Katara is _not_ one of the Avatar's companions!"

There was a whoosh and a thud, and the Avatar's bison landed next to them. Zuko leaped back, eyes wide, as the Avatar, his Water Tribe friend, Katara's earthbending friend, a few others he'd never laid eyes on before and Katara all dismounted. "Lee!" Katara said, excitedly, and leaped into his arms.

For a moment, everything in his world was okay, because Katara was there and kissing him.

Then reality intruded.

"_KATARA! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!_" Came the Water Tribe boy's voice in what could only be termed a shriek.

She ignored him, and said to Zuko, "Where did you get the idea that I wasn't travelling with Aang?"

Zuko dimly heard himself sputter, but couldn't quite spit out an answer, as all the coincidences, glimpses of a second figure in Water Tribe blue, and the various hints in Katara's conversation all came together in his head.

"Denial is a powerful force," his uncle put in, mildly.

The boy in blue wasn't going to let himself be ignored and grabbed Katara away. "_WHAT PART OF GUY WITH AN UGLY SCAR ON HIS FACE AND A PONYTAIL DIDN'T YOU GET!_"

Katara stared. Her brother was practically magenta as he waved his hands in the air, punctuating his words. The Avatar's eyes were the size of dinner plates and his mouth was wide open. The earthbending girl had an amused grin on her face, and seemed to be watching the show, however a blind girl watched a show, while the ones Zuko didn't know just looked a little confused. "He's Zuko?" she asked in a small voice.

"_YES!_"

"You didn't say he just had a scar!" she defended. "You said he was ugly _and had a scar_! It's not the same thing!"

"_YES IT IS!_"

Katara was getting as upset as the boy who had to be the brother she'd mentioned so often. "No, it's not!" she shouted. "Lee's not ugly! Just because someone has a scar on his face doesn't mean he's some prince!"

"_YOU KNEW WHAT I MEANT!_"

"You said he was ugly!"

"_IT'S THE SAME THING!_"

"No, it's not!"

"Wait!" shouted the Avatar. When the siblings fell silent, he turned to Katara. "You thought that Zuko wasn't Zuko, but someone named Lee because he's not ugly?"

Katara pouted. "You _said_ he was ugly. He's not."

"Is he why you don't wanna be _my_ girlfriend?" the Avatar said, suddenly whining. "You like _Zuko_?"

"I didn't know he was Zuko!" she defended.

"_BUT YOU'RE NOT DENYING IT, ARE YOU!_" screamed her brother.

Zuko idly wondered whether he talked like this all the time, or if his voice was going to give out soon.

Suddenly, Katara spun toward him. "Were you just my boyfriend to get close to Aang?" she asked him, tearfully.

"_YES!_"

"No!" Zuko replied. He grabbed her upper arms, bracing himself against her so that she was looking at him. "No," he repeated. "I didn't know you were even travelling with the Avatar. All those times . . . I thought it was just coincidence. I . . . I didn't _want_ you to be travelling with the Avatar because it meant you'd be . . . the enemy." He shook his head, pulling away. "I was so _stupid_."

"I was stupid like that too," she confessed. Then she took another step and wrapped her arms around him. "I wanted you to be my friend, Lee."

"Just your friend?"

"More, and you know it."

"_YOU BOTH STOP THAT RIGHT NOW!_"

The Water boy's hysterics had reached a point where you could completely ignore him if you wanted. Zuko was vaguely aware of four of the others exchanging some sort of bets relating to the colours the boy was turning, whether he was going to pass out, and a denial that it was fair for Toph to be involved because she could hear his clearly strained heartbeat and it gave her an unfair advantage in the betting pool.

"Are you and your uncle still willing to teach Aang?" she asked.

How could he say no to those eyes that were bluer than the sky and deeper than the ocean? He said as much.

"_STOP SAYING ROMANTIC GOOPY THINGS TO MY SISTER!_"

"I'm sure Uncle will be willing to help, too," he told Katara.

"Good," she said.

Then they were kissing.

"_WHA – NO! YOU – BAD KATARA! YOU – BAD! AAUUUGH_ckthpfffffffcthkpt."

"Wow," said one of the Ones Zuko Had Never Met. "I've never seen anyone turn that colour before. Do you suppose the foam means he has rabies?"

Katara wrenched herself away and they both spotted her brother, who was, indeed, several very interesting shades ranging between a sort of beige all the way to a kind of reddish purple, mottled together very unattractively. There was also foam around the edges of his mouth as he sat there on the ground looking shellshocked. As Katara began to minister to him, he began muttering, "No, Katara. Boys bad. Bad and cooties. With bad and badness. Must not . . . bad." He was clearly pleading.

"You have made quite an impression, Nephew," his uncle said.

Then, to make this whole day complete, the bison licked him. Somehow, it wasn't even worth steaming all the spit away in that moment.

* * *

The Madness Continues

Katara had a lot of questions for Lee – Zuko, she corrected herself, so the first chance she got to distract Sokka by sticking Boomerang into a mud puddle so he'd leave them alone and she could talk to her boyfriend in peace, she took.

"L – Zuko," she started.

"Yes?" he asked. Now that she was looking, she could see the prince in him. The way he held himself was like the noblemen she'd seen while travelling with Aang, and his skin and hair were the distinct kinds native to the Fire Islands.

She bit her lip, but forced herself to confront the issue. "Why didn't you tell me you were the prince?"

He sighed. "At first I just didn't want you to give me away. If the Ava – Aang, had heard I was nearby, he would have fled and I would lose him again. Also . . . you thought of the Fire Nation as the enemy," he added. "I didn't want you to think of me that way. I wanted you to like me."

Well, she couldn't fault that logic, could she? "Okay, just one more question," she said.

"Ask," he told her.

"Why were you trying to capture Aang?" she asked him.

So he told her. He told her all about the day he'd tried to keep innocent lives from being lost for no reason, about a father who would maim his own son and banish him, about desperation to get home and prove he deserved his father's love. When he finished and looked up at her from where his gaze had fallen to his feet, she was crying. "Katara? What's wrong?" he asked, anxiously.

"Oh, Lee," she threw herself at him, wrapping her arms around him and crawling into his lap. "I'm so sorry. You didn't deserve any of it and I'm a horrible person because I'm so happy it happened because you wouldn't have met me if it had and I shouldn't be happy but-"

He kissed her.

Katara leaned into that wonderful lean body and was soon clinging to him like a sucker-sloth to a tree.

"Katara!" her brother's voice shrieked from nearby, and he yanked them apart. "What did I tell you about boys!"

Katara blinked at him. "I have no idea what you're talking about, Sokka." She really didn't. The only time he'd ever said anything to her about boys had been when she was eleven and had seen Aulka and Lutak kissing behind their gran's igloo. She hadn't listened to anything he'd said then, either.

"That time you saw Aulka and Lutak!" he shouted. "I told you everything you need to know right then!"

Katara stared. "You mean that thing about how kissing boys gives you arctic fleas?" she asked. "Or the thing about how letting a boy touch me in any way meant my hair would fall out?"

Behind her, Lee – Zuko, snickered.

"No!" howled Sokka. "You're not supposed to go near boys! Ever!"

"But you're allowed to kiss Suki all you want?" she asked him. She'd seen that. He'd been all over Suki back at Ba Sing Se.

"That's totally different," Sokka objected.

"How?"

"Suki's not going to try to use me and turn me into her slave to . . . um . . . do her bidding," he rapidly improvised. Katara was pretty sure he'd been planning to say something to do with sex, but thought he was keeping her innocence intact or something by not saying that. "And then dump me like yesterday's stewed sea prunes!"

"How-"

She didn't even get to ask why he would say that, and he answered the question anyhow. "That's what all boys want! I know that!"

"Because you're a boy?" Katara asked, wondering if he was really walking into this one.

"Yes!"

"Does that mean you're planning to make Suki your sex slave and then dump her like yesterday's sea prunes?" she asked him. Zuko was making snorting noises behind her, and when she hazarded a quick glance back, saw he was trying not to laugh.

"What? No! That's – Don't twist my words!" shouted Sokka.

"Anyhow," Katara said glibly, grabbing Zuko's hand and pulling him to his feet to follow her, "L – Zuko and I have already slept together."

When Sokka started to foam at the mouth again, Katara shook her head. Sokka was too easy.

* * *

More Madness

Zuko was grateful that Katara had forgiven him for lying to her, both literally and by omission. He was even more grateful that she was willing to sneak off for private time away from hysterical older brothers, irritating earthbenders and interfering uncles.

The fact that he got to see her every morning at breakfast, got to train with her (she was as formidable as his sister and even less predictable with her element, as he'd never fought a waterbender before), got to help her make dinner and kiss her every day, it all added up to a tremendous sense of happiness on his part.

Not that he wasn't planning everything he could do once Uncle had taken his rightful throne and Zuko had the royal coffers at his disposal. The thought of being able to dress Katara in Fire Nation clothes that were in her Water Tribe blue shades was a very appealing one. Zuko was lost in a daydream when Aang found him. "Zuko?" asked the Avatar.

"Weren't you supposed to be training with Uncle?" he asked the boy.

Aang nodded, looking morose. "He said that until I was willing and able to concentrate he couldn't teach me anything."

Something about how Aang said it caught Zuko's attention. "Why can't you concentrate, Aang?" he asked.

"_Because you took Katara away from me! She's mine!_" the kid yelled. A distinct whining tone underlaid the hissy fit.

Zuko just stared. This was the almighty Avatar? The boy who had managed to singlehandedly destroy twelve Fire Nation Navy ships then been possessed by the Spirit of the Ocean to destroy the rest of the fleet with barely a thought? "How did I take her away from you?" he asked. "Katara's the one who made a choice. I didn't even know she was travelling with you."

"How do I know that," Aang said resentfully. "You probably did this just so that you could mess up my concentration and stuff."

Zuko shook his head in disbelief. "I fell in love with Katara and tried to woo her with bad poetry and stuff because I was trying to break _your_ concentration?"

"Yes!" Aang declared. "Anyhow, Katara should be with me!"

Sokka, who had a positive gift for turning up where he wasn't wanted, popped out of the stonework and said, "You tell 'im Aang!"

"She knows what it's like to be the last bender of her kind, she was the last waterbender and the South Pole, and I'm the last airbender!"

"Right!" Sokka cheered his bald friend on.

Zuko felt his jaw drop open at the display. He also couldn't help but notice Toph chivvying the others over to watch. Suddenly he felt like he had a headache coming on. "That's not a good basis for a relationship."

"Yeah, well, Katara takes care of me when I get sick and she likes the necklace I made for her so she could wear something different than her regular one when she gets tired of it and she likes to go penguin sledding! Can you say you know her better?"

_Don't get involved, don't get involved _– "She and I like the same scrolls and _I_ took care of _her_ when she was sick and got her the waterskin she likes so much and _wears all the time_," Zuko snapped back. "Also," he added, "I'm a prince."

"Well, _I'm_ the Avatar," Aang replied. Which _did_ trump prince, Zuko had to admit.

That was when Sokka spoke up. "Well, we know Aang's one of the good guys. He always has been. Unlike you."

"I've changed," Zuko gritted out. "Anyhow, isn't it up to Katara to decide whether she wants someone her own age or a child?"

Before Aang could react to that, Sokka had reacted. "Psht. Aang's being a kid is better anyhow. He won't have any bad urges to molest my sister. By the time he's old enough to, I'll convince her to break up with him anyhow."

Aang turned to Sokka while Zuko's jaw hit the floor again. "I thought you wanted me with Katara!" he said, turning big, hurt eyes on Sokka. "What do you mean by urges anyhow?"

Sokka, as was only right, looked very uncomfortable all of a sudden. "I . . . you . . . you know," he said to Aang. "Like . . . boy-girl stuff."

"You mean, sex?" Zuko said, dryly. No wonder Katara had called her brother an idiot savant.

"What's sex?" chorused the Duke and Aang at once.

Toph and Teo burst into raucous laughter while Sokka and Haru turned bright red. Zuko fled the scene when his uncle appeared, cheerfully informing the boys that the lessons he had imparted to Zuko over the last three years could stand to be taught to them.

"You must understand, young ones, that a man is like a sword, and a woman a sheathe . . ."

As he scurried into the depths of the temple in a desperate bid to be anywhere but next to that lecture, he took back all his earlier thoughts of pleasure at sharing living space with Katara. Then she surprised him with a kissing ambush in the halls and he decided that all he had to do was make sure that Sokka and Aang were never allowed anywhere near his or Katara's rooms at the palace. Maybe even someday his _and_ Katara's rooms.

* * *

Masters and Madness

Katara was huffing in utter irritation with Aang over this. First he'd refused to train with Iroh, even though the man was clearly a brilliant firebender and had trained Zuko to be a brilliant bender. Then he'd constantly complained about Zuko taking away 'his' girl, which had led to a distrust that would have been rational, if only the reason behind it were. It was one thing to mistrust someone who had been chasing you and trying to hand you over to your nemesis for months because of said chasing.

It was quite another to mistrust him because you were upset your crush had picked him over you.

She'd tried to be understanding. She knew that Aang had grown up in a temple with no parents and no girls and hadn't had all that much instruction on matters relating to how men and women interacted. She knew he was in the throes of puppy love for her, and that he had a certain ego problem relating to his being the Avatar. Enough was enough, however.

He'd run away after Toph had mentioned the idea of finding the original firebending masters to teach him firebending, the same way she'd learned earthbending from the badger-moles. So he'd taken off and left them all behind, including Appa, dismayed that he would do such a thing.

She and Zuko had set off to catch up with Aang and bring him back if they had to hogtie him and drag him. When they landed, Zuko stared around, saying, "I don't believe it. Uncle once talked about the Sun Warriors, but . . . this is one of their temples."

"Let's go, then. Hopefully we can find Aang quickly."

As luck would have it, they ran into a trap, and Katara found herself stuck in a sort of metal cage. She sighed in annoyance. "Go get Aang," she said to Zuko. "It'll be easier to get me out of this if we're all able to work together."

"Are you sure?" he asked, looking at her doubtfully.

Katara reached through the gaps in the bars to cup a hand around Zuko's cheek, and found herself shivering a little, despite the situation, when he kissed her palm. "I'll be fine," she reassured him. "Just don't take too long, okay?"

"I won't," he promised, then hurried off.

He didn't come back.

Hours later, Katara was very worried and starting to become positively terrified something had happened to both boys. It was a very long night.

The next day, a bunch of strange men she'd never seen before came tramping along, got her out of the cage and practically frogmarched her over to the temple. "Katara!" Zuko shouted as she came into view, "You're okay!"

The men let her go, and Katara rushed to him, pulling both him and Aang into a hug. "I'm so glad you're both okay," she told them. "When you didn't come back I was worried something had happened."

Aang was almost glowing with excitement. "Something _did_ happen, Katara," he said. "Look!" then he pointed at the top of the island's mountain. To Katara's amazement, two dragons emerged. One blue and one red. They came flying over, their long bodies spiralling around each other. She didn't know what impulse moved her, but she stepped forward with Zuko close beside her. Suddenly both dragons turned and hurtled straight towards them, landing and walking toward the couple. Katara stared, hypnotised, into the eyes of the blue dragon. A series of images, of dragons in the rivers and lakes, of sinuous bodies meant as much for water as for air, filled her mind. Something primal rose up in her.

She was barely aware of her body climbing onto the blue dragon, as Zuko climbed onto the red one. Katara was fiercely aware of her mate and equal beside her, a dragon of the hot air of the volcano, balanced by her, a dragon of the seas and lightning. A balance of cold and hot, fire and water, the familiar and the foreign. That was them.

Then they landed and Katara found herself again herself.

Somehow it only seemed right when the Sun Warriors declared that she and Zuko had been declared mates by the two dragons.

The moment was only made better when Aang regretfully gave them his blessing.

Then the moment ended. "If you hurt Katara, I'll make you eat one of Sokka's socks," Aang threatened.

"Aang," Zuko said, clearly unsure of what to say.

Katara wasn't unsure in the slightest. "Aang, don't you threaten Zuko like that. Telling him you'll feed him to a squid-shark is plenty enough. There's no need to bring Sokka's socks into it."

Zuko stared at them both and Katara grinned. It was his turn to do the laundry and he would learn. Oh, how he would learn.

* * *

When will the madness end?

Zuko was getting a little disturbed by everything. Aang had come back from the dragons' island deeply upset by the two animals' declaration, through the Sun Warriors, that Zuko and Katara were soul mates, or some such nonsense.

It wasn't helped by the fact that Katara seemed to have developed a rather strong attachment to the idea herself and was making wedding plans. As much as he was in love with her, it all felt very fast. Meanwhile, Sokka was accusing him of arranging for Katara's 'brainwashing' in order to sneak his way into everyone's good graces.

Sokka was why he'd wound up going on that crazy mission to break the Water Tribe siblings' father out of the Boiling Rock. Now he was travelling back to the temple, Sokka having decided he wasn't too bad, with Katara waiting at the other end of the trip. He wouldn't mind, per se, but he suspected her father might take exception to his daughter being that determined to marry the expatriate and banished prince of the same nation that had killed his wife. Also, Sokka was still convinced the pair had been a great deal more intimate than they had. It was all going to come back to bite him somewhere deeply uncomfortable.

"You seem very tense," Hakoda observed.

Zuko looked at him and decided that he'd risk being tossed over the side of the bison now, rather than have the man be surprised by Katara's current overreaction later. "It's complicated," he said. "But I suppose I'd better tell you now. I mean, the sheer anxiety about whether or not you'll skin me alive or just toss me over the edge when you find out is nearly as bad as whichever you pick."

"That doesn't fill me with confidence," Hakoda told him dryly.

So he took a deep breath and told the man everything, from how he and Katara met, to his chasing the Avatar all those months, to his denial about Katara's friendship with Aang and all the way up to her determination to believe that they were now effectively engaged. "So you see," he finished, "I just figured I'd better tell you before she starts talking about flower arrangements and combined marriage ceremonies again, and Sokka starts on about how he doesn't see the point since it's too late to save her reputation, which it isn't."

The man just stared for several long seconds until Zuko was starting to feel very nervous about everything. Finally, the man shook his head and sighed. "I always told Kya that letting Katara spend time with Oogala would have consequences."

"Sir?" Zuko asked as respectfully as he could. He didn't want to upset his girlfriend's father.

The man sighed. "Oogala was one of the women in our village. She had a tendency to have a rather . . . optimistic view of life. She told a lot of romantic stories to the children about princesses, true love, soulmates and fate. Katara can be very practical, but at heart she's a romantic, and she ate those stories right up."

"I love her," Zuko said, "I really do, it's just . . ."

Hakoda sighed. "I have to tell you, I'm conflicted on this. On the one hand, I'm her father and I really want to just bash your head in for going anywhere near my little girl. On the other hand, you seem like a nice young man and exactly the kind of person I would want her to choose."

"I . . . thank you," said the firebender humbly.

"I'll think about this," Hakoda promised him. "It has to be handled carefully, because if I appear too much against you both being together, she'll find a way to get you both married behind my back, but I don't want to be the cause of her unhappiness, either."

Zuko nodded, saying nothing.

Naturally, by the time they landed, Sokka had told Hakoda all his suspicions of how intimate Katara and Zuko really were, which were all lies. Horrible lies, mostly because Zuko badly wished they _had_ been that intimate, but they really hadn't.

Even more to be expected was that Katara greeted him by wrapping herself pointedly around him and kissing him. Zuko was a teenager; he could hardly be indifferent to his beautiful girlfriend wriggling against him as she french-kissed him.

When they broke apart, she finally spotted her father. "Do I at least get a 'hello'?" he asked.

"Dad!" she cried, and leapt at him, wrapping herself around her father just as thoroughly, if with a completely different kind of affection. She pulled away, smiled, and said, "I'm so glad you're getting along with Zuko. I really wanted to be sure I could have your help when I talked Aruak into working with a fire sage so that the ceremony will bless us under both Agni and Tui and La." She eagerly grabbed a pile of parchment and shoved it under her father's nose. "There's these things called 'bridesmaids' in the Fire Nation and I was thinking that we needed to arrange for purple dresses for mine to show the union of fire and water by having the mix of red and blue."

Zuko turned to sneak away, but was blocked by a pillar of stone rearing up out of nowhere. "Oh, no you don't," said Toph.

"We had to put up with it the whole time you and Sokka were gone," Haru added. "You're not going anywhere."

"Zuko!" came Katara's voice, overriding her father's like a tsunami bearing down on the shore. "What do _you_ think about wearing purple for the wedding?"

"Make. Her. Stop," grated out Toph.

Zuko sighed and went to his doom. He wasn't comforted in the slightest by the bewildered look on Hakoda's face.

* * *

A conclusion of sorts

Katara had, quite graciously she thought, agreed to wait until the war was over to talk about marrying Zuko.

Then, because it made sense, she put it off because he was still getting used to being Fire Lord and didn't need to add complications.

Then she agreed to let him put it off because of the economic and social crisis that followed the war, because he felt it would look terrible to the people if he was having lavish ceremonies while his people were struggling to get through each day.

Then she let him put it off because people had to be totally used to the idea of getting a Water Tribeswoman as their Fire Lady.

They had a loud argument about it that night, which he won, but it left her wondering if he actually wanted to marry her. He was attentive, bought her anything she so much as looked at, wrote her bad poetry, sparred with her, dragged her into his bedroom for antics that sometimes left her blushing if she so much as thought about them and had announced that he wasn't going to look anywhere else for a wife as long as he had Katara.

But he kept putting the actual wedding off.

It was while she was looking through the library at the palace for something completely different that she stumbled onto her solution and her ultimatum.

That night, lying in his bed, gasping for breath from the things he'd just done with his mouth, she asked him. "Zuko?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you remember that time we got . . . possessed or whatever by the dragons on the Sun Warriors' island?"

He turned to her, frowning a little, and said, "How could I forget? Why?"

"I was looking around in the library this morning and I found something . . . interesting," she told him. "Apparently, a long time ago, a fire lord would take his wife to be tested by dragons. If she passed, the marriage would be considered valid. If she didn't, it would be nullified. Actually, sometimes a fire lord would go there instead of having a wedding and it would be considered a valid marriage if she was accepted."

Zuko make have been many things, but he wasn't slow on the uptake. "Are you saying that you want me to tell people we got married in some ancient ceremony that no one considers valid anymore?"

"I'm saying that we're already married if you want to be, Zuko." Katara pressed her lips together briefly, then fixed him with a look. "It's _your_ traditions that make us married. We could announce it tomorrow and start planning a wedding." She heard her voice tremble in spite of herself. "Do . . . do you _want_ to marry me, or are we just . . . just . . ." she didn't even know how to put it.

He looked horrified, and said, "You thought I didn't want to marry you? I do! I just . . . I wanted to be sure you were sure. I wanted to be sure we weren't rushing into things or-"

"So, we will?"

He smiled. "I'll talk to the fire sages tomorrow, and we'll tell the people that you're as good as Fire Lady already."

Katara felt a grin stretch across her lips. "I'll write home. Let dad know he can stop making excuses to Arnook about us living together without being married." She let her grin turn wicked and added, "What _do_ you think about purple for our wedding clothes? Ming Tsu got married in purple."

The terrified look Zuko gave her sent her into spasms of laughter. "You were doing that deliberately at the Western Temple, weren't you?" he demanded.

"You should see your face!" she crowed.

He just grumbled and pulled her into his arms. "I need to thank the former Private Wei," he said.

"Why's that?" Katara asked, curious.

Zuko smiled. "If he hadn't eaten all our salted fish in a fit of gluttony, my ship would never have needed to stop on Kyoshi for supplies. I never would have met a pretty girl in blue if it weren't for him being stupid."

Katara smiled back. "It's funny how things work out, sometimes."


End file.
